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THE IVERNER BIOGRAPHICAL BOOKLETS 



THE STORY cSy^ 



OF 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



FOR YOUNG READERS 




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WERNER SCHOOL BOOK COMPANY 
NEW YORK CHICAQO BOSTON 



, NOV 23 



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Copyright. iSg6, 
By Werner School Book Company 



Beujaniiii Pittuklin. 



TO THE YOUNG READER 



I am about to tell 3^^u-4he--stoiy~ora very great and 
noble man. It is the story of one whom all the world 
honors — of one whose name will forever be remembered 
with admiration. Benjamin Franklin was not born to 
greatness. He had none of the advantages which even 
the poorest boys may now enjoy. But he achieved great- 
ness by always making the best use of such opportunities 
as came in his w ay. He was not afraid of work. He did 
not give up to discouragements. He did not overestimate 
his own abilities. I:ie_was earnest and faithful in little 
things ; and that, after all, is the surest way of attaining 
to great things. There is no man to w^hom we Americans 
owe a greater debt of gratitude. Without his aid the 
American colonies would hardly have won independence. 
It was said of him that he knew^ how to subdue both 
thunder and tyranny ; and a famous orator who knew 
him well, described him as " the genius that gave freedom 
to America and shed torrents of light upon Europe." 
But, at the close of a very long life, the thing which gave 
him the greatest satisfaction was the fact that he had 
made no man his enemy ; there was no human being who 
could justly say, " Ben Franklin has wronged me." 



CONTENTS 



I. The Whistle 5 

II. School] )AYS 8 

III. The Boys and jhe Wharf ii 

IV. Choosino a Trade 13 

V. How Franklin Educated Himself. ... 15 

VI. Farewell to Boston 19 

VII. The First Day in Philadelphia . . . .22 

VIII. Governor William Keith 26 

IX. The Return to Philadephia 30 

X. The First Visit to England .... 34 

XI. A Leading Man in Philadelphia . . . .36 

XII. Franklin's Rules of Life 40 

XIII. Franklin's Services to the Colonies . . . 43 

XIV. Franklin's Wonderful Kite .... 4S 
XV. The Last Years 53 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



I. — Thp: Whistle. 

Nearly two hundred years ago, there Hved in 
Boston a Httle boy whose name was Benjamin 
Franklin. 

On the day that he was seven years old, his 
mother gave him a few pennies. 

He looked at the bright, yellow pieces and 
said, " What shall I do with these coppers, 
mother ? " 

It was the first money that he had ever had. 

" You may buy something with them, if you 
would like," said his mother. 

'* And will you give me more when they are 
gone ?" he asked. 

His mother shook her head and said : '' No, 
Benjamin. I cannot give you any more. So you 
must be careful not to spend them foolishly." 

The little fellow ran out into the street. He 
heard the pennies jingle in his pocket as he ran. 
He felt as though he was very rich. 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLlN 



Boston was at that time only a small town, 
and there were not many stores. .\s Benjamin 
ran down toward the busy part of the street, he 
wondered \\ hat he should buy. 

Should he buy candy or toys? It had been a 
long" time since he had tasted candy. As for 
toys, he hardly knew what they were. 

If he had been the only child in the family, 
thino^s mio^ht have been different. But there 
were fourteen bovs and oirls older than he, and 
two little sisters that were younger. 

It was as much as his father could do to earn 
food and clothing for so many. There was no 
money to spend for toys. 

Before Benjamin had gone very far he met a 
boy blowing a whistle. 

*' That is just the thing that I want," he said. 
Then he hurried on to the store where all kinds 
of things were kept for sale. 

''Have you any good whistles?" he asked. 

Fie was out of breath from runnino-, but he 
tried hard to speak like a man. 

" Yes, plenty of them," said the man. 



THE STORY OF BEXJAMIX FKANKIJX. J 

'' Well, I want one, and I'll give you all the 
money I have for it," said the little fellow. He 
forg-ot to ask the priee. 

''How much money have you?" asked the 
man. 

Benjamin took the coppers from his pocket. 
The man counted them and said, " All right, my 
boy. It's a bargain." 

Then he put the pennies into his money drawer, 
and gave one of the whistles to the boy. 

Benjamin Franklin was a proud and happy 
boy. He ran home as fast as he could, blowing 
his whistle as he ran. 

His mother met him at tlie door and said, 
''Well, my child, what did you do with your 
pennies ? " 

" I bought a whistle ! " he cried. " Just hear 
me blow it ! " 

" How^ much did you pay for it ?" 

" All the money I had." 

One of his brothers was standing by and abked 
to see the whistle. "Well, well !" he said, "did 
you spend all of your money for this thing ?" 



8 THE STORY OF BEX J A MIX FRAXKUX. 

" Every penny," said Benjamin. 

'' Did you ask the price ?" 

" No. l^ut I offered them to the man, and he 
said it was all right." 

His brother lauo^hed and said, " You are a verv 
fooHsh fellow. You paid four times as much as 
it is worth." 

'' Yes," said his mother, " I think it is rather 
a dear whistle. You had enough money to buy 
a whistle and some candy, too." 

The little boy saw what a mistake he had 
made. The whistle did not please him any more. 
He threw it upon the floor, and began to cry. 
But his mother took him upon her lap and said : 

'' Never mind, my child. We must all live and 
learn ; and I think that my little boy will be 
careful, after this, not to pay too dear for his 
whistles." 



II. SCHOOLDAV 



When Benjamin Franklin was a boy there 
were no great public schools in Boston as there 
are now. But he learned to read almost as soon 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



I 



as he could talk, and he was always fond of 
books. 

His nine brothers were older than he, and 
every one had learned a trade. They did not 
care so much for books. 

*' Benjamin shall be the scholar of our family," 
said his mother. 

*' Yes, we will educate him for a minister," said 
his father. For at that time all the most learned 
men were ministers.- 

And so, when he was eight years old, Benja- 
min F'ranklin was sent to a grammar school, 
where boys were prepared for college. He was 
a very apt scholar, and in a few months was pro- 
moted to a higher class. 

But the lad was not allowed to stay long in 
the gran^mar school. His father was a poor 
man. It would cost a great deal of money to 
give Benjamin a college education. The times 
were very hard. The idea of educating the boy 
for the ministry had to be given up. 

In less than a year he w^as taken from 
the grammar school, and sent to another 



TO THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FKANKLlX. 

school where arithmetic and writings were 
taught. 

He learned to wTite very well, indeed ; but he 
did not care so much for arithmetic, and so failed 
to do what was expected of him. 

When he was ten years old he had to leave 
school altoo-ether. His father needed his help ; 
and though Benjamin w as but a small boy, there 
were many things that he could do. 

He never attended school again, l^ut he kept 
on studying and reading ; and we shall find 
that he afterwards became the most learned man 
in America. 

ISenjamin's father was a soap-boiler and candle- 
maker. And so when the boy was taken from 
school, what kind of work do you think he had 
to do? 

He was kept busy cutting wicks for the can- 
dles, pouring the melted tallow into the candle- 
moulds, and selling soap to his father's customers. 

Do vou suppose that he liked this business ? 

He did not like it at all. And when he saw 
the ships sailing in and out of Boston harbor, he 



THE STORY OF BEN JAM TV FRAN KLTX. II 

longed to be a sailor and go to strange, far-away 
lands, where candles and soap were unknown. 

But his father would not listen to any of his 
talk about going to sea. 



III. — Tmk Hovs and the Wharf. 

Busy as J3enjamin was in his father's shop, he 
still had time to play a good deal. 

He was liked by all the boys of the neighbor- 
hood, and they looked up to hmi as their leader. 
In all their games he was their captain; and noth- 
ing was undertaken without asking his advice. 

Not far from the home of the Franklins there 
w^as a millpond, where the boys often went to 
swdm. When the tide was high they liked to 
stand at a certain spot on the shore of the pond 
and fish for minnows. 

But the ground was marshy and wet, and the 
boys' feet sank deep in the mud. 

" Let us build a wharf alono- the water's edore," 
said Benjamin. "Then we can stand and fish 
with some comfort." 



12 THE STORY OF BENJAMIN EKANKUN. 

" xA.greed ! " said the boys. " Hut what is the 
wharf to be made of ? " 

Benjamin pointed to a heap of stones that lay 
not far away. They had been hauled there only 
a few days before, and were to be used in build- 
ing a new house near the millpond. 

The boys needed only a hint. Soon they were 
as busy as ants, dragging the stones to the 
water's edge. 

Before it was fully dark that evening, they had 
built a nice stone wharf on which they could 
stand and fish without danger of sinking in the 
mud. 

The next morning the workmen came to begin 
the building of the house. They were surprised 
to find all the stones gone from the place where 
they had been thrown. But the tracks of the 
boys in the mud told the stor\'. 

It w^as easy enough to find out who had done 
the mischief. 

When the bo)'s' fathers were told of the trou- 
ble which the\' had caused, you may imagine 
what thev did. 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. (13 

Young Benjamin Franklin tried hard to ex- 
plain that a wharf on the edge of the millpond 
was a public necessity. 

His father would not listen to him. He said, 
" My son, nothing can ever be truly useful which 
is not at the same time truly honest." 

And Benjamin never forgot this lesson. 



IV. — Choosing a Trade. 

As I have already said, young Benjamin did 
not Hke the work which he had to do in his 
father's shop. 

His father was not very fond of the trade him- 
self, and so he could not blame the boy. One 
day he said : 

" Benjamin, since you have made up your 
mind not to be a candle-maker, what trade do 
you think you would like to learn ?" 

"■ You know I would like to be a sailor," said 
the boy. 

*' But you shall not be a sailor," said his father. 
" I intend that vou shall learn some useful busi- 



14 '1 l^J^: STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



ness on land ; and, of course, you will succeed 
best in that kind of business \\ hich is most pleas- 
ant to you." 

The next day he took the boy to walk with 
him auK^ng the shops of Hoston. They saw all 
kinds of workmen busy at their various trades. 

Benjamin was delig-hted. Long afterwards, 
when he had become a very great man, he said, 
*' It has ever since been a pleasure to me to see 
good workmen handle their tools." 

He gave up the thought of going to sea, and 
said that he would learn any trade that his father 
would choose for him. 

His father thought that the cutler's trade was 
a good one. His cousin, Samuel Franklin, had 
just set up a cutler's shop in Hoston, and he 
agreed to take Benjamin a few days on trial. 

Benjamin was pleased with the idea of learn- 
ing how to make knives and scissors and razors 
and all other kinds of cutting tools. But his cous- 
in wanted so much money for teaching him the 
trade that his father could not afford it ; and so 
the lad was taken back to the candle-maker's shop. 




THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. I 5 

Soon after this, Henjamin's brother, James 
FrankHn, set up a printirio- press in Boston. He 
intended to print and pubHsh books and a news- 
paper. 

" Benjamin loves books," said his father. " He 
shall learn to be a printer." 

And so, when he was twelve years old, he was 
bound to his l^rother to learn the printer's trade. 
He was to stay with him until he was tw^enty- 
one. He was to have his board and clothing- and 
no other wages, except during the last year. I 
suppose that during the last year he was to be 
paid the same as any other workman. 



V. — How Franklin Educated Himself. 

When Benjamin Franklin was a boy there 
w^ere no books for children. Yet he spent most 
of his spare time in reading. 

His father's books were not easy to under- 
stand. People nowadays would think them very 
dull and heavy. 

But before he wa3 twelve years old, Benjamin 



aceof fraRk'iin 
Poston U.S. 




Press at-whicb 
TraRklip worked 



THE STORY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN. \y 

had read the most of them. He read evervthino" 
that he could get. 

After he went to work for his brother he 
found it easier to obtain good books. Often he 
would borrow a book in the evenino-, and then 
sit up nearly all night reading it so as to return 
it in the morning. 

When the owners of books found that he al- 
ways returned them soon and clean, they were 
very wilhnof to lend him whatever he wished. 

He was about fourteen years of ao^e when he 
began to study how to write clearly and correct- 
ly. He afterwards told how he did this. He said : 

'* About this time I met with an odd yolume 
of the Spectators I had never before seen any 
of them. 

"I bought it, read it over and over, and was 
much delighted with it. 

'' I thought the writing excellent, and wished 
if possible to imitate it. 

'' With that view, I took some of the papers, 
and making short hints of the sentiments in each 
sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, 



I 8 THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

without looking at the book, tried to complete 
the papers again, by expressing each hinted sen- 
timent at length and as fully as it had been ex- 
pressed before, in any suitable words that should 
occur to me. 

" Then I compared my Spectator with the orig- 
inal, discovered some of my faults and corrected 
them. 

*' But I found that I wanted a stock of words, 
or a readmess in recollecting and using them. 

"Therefore, I took some of tlie talcs in the 
Spectator and turned them into verse ; and, after 
a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the 
prose, turned them back again." 

About this time his brother began to publish a 
newspaper. 

It was the fourth newspaper published in 
America, and was called the New England 
Courajit. 

People said that it was a foolish undertaking. 
They said that one newspaper was enough for 
this country, and that there would be but little 
demand for more. 



THE STORY OF BEX J A MTV FRANK LEW ig 

111 those days editors did not dare to write 
freely about public affairs. It was dangerous to 
criticise men who were \\\ power. 

James Franklin published something in the 
iV^a' England Courant about the lawmakers of 
Massachusetts. It made the lawmakers very 
ano-ry. Thev caused James Franklin to be shut 
Up in prison for a month, and they ordered that 
he should no longer print the newspaper called 
the New England Courant. 

But, in spite of this order, the newspaper was 
prmted every week as before. It was printed, 
however, in the name of Benjamin Franklin. 
For several years it bore his name as editor and 
publisher. 

VI. — Farewell to Boston. 

Benjamin Franklin did not have a very happy 
life with his brother James. 

His brother was a hard master, and was al- 
ways finding fault with his workmen. Some- 
times he would beat young Benjamin and abuse 
him without cause. 



20 THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



When Benjamin was nearly seventeen years 
old he made up his mind that he would not en- 
dure this treatment any longer. 

He told his brother that he would leave him 
and find work with some one else. 

When his brother learned that he really meant 
to do this, he went round to all the other printers 
in Boston and persuaded them not to give Ben- 
jamin any work. 

The father took James's part, and scolded 

_njamin for being so saucy and so hard to please. 
But Benjamin would not go back to James's 
printing house. 

He made up his mind that since he could not 
find work in Boston he would run away from his 
home. He would otq to New York and look for 
work there. 

He sold his books to raise a little money. 
Then, without saying good-bye to his father or 
mother or any of his brothers or sisters, he 
went on board a ship that was just ready to sail 
from the harbor. 

It is not likely that he was very happy while do- 



7 HE srORY OF BENJAMIX FRANKLIN. 21 

ino: this. Lonor afterwards he said : " I reckon 
this as one of the first errata of my Hfe." 

What did he mean by errata ? 

Errata are mistakes — mistakes that cannot 
easily be corrected. 

Three da\s after leavino- lioston, young- Frank- 
Hn found himself in New Vork. It was then 
October, in the }'ear 1723. 

The lad had but very little money in his pocket. 
There was no one in New York that he knew. He 
was three hundred miles from home and frien ' . 

As soon as he landed he went about the streets 
looking for work. 

New York was only a little town then, and 
there was not a newspaper in it. There were 
but a few printing houses there, and these had 
not much work to do. The boy from Boston 
called at every place, but he found that nobody 
wanted to employ any more help. 

At one of the little printing houses Franklin 
was told that perhaps he could find work in Phil- 
adelphia, which was at that time a much more 
important place than New York. 



2 2 THE STOK\ OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

Philadelphia was one hundred miles farther 
from home. One hundred miles was a lon^ dis- 
tanee in those days. 

Hut Franklin made up his mind to s^o there 
without delay. It would be easier to do this 
than to give up and try to return to Boston. 



VII. — The First Day in Philadelphia. 

There are two ways of going from New York 
to Philadelphia. 

One way is by the sea. The other is by land, 
across the state of New Jersey. 

As Franklin had but little money, he took the 
shorter route by land ; but he sent his little chest, 
containing his Sunday clothes, round by sea, in 
a boat. 

He walked all the way from Perth Amboy, on 
the eastern shore of New Jersey, to Hurlington, 
on the Delaware river. 

Nowadays you may travel that distance in 
an hour, for it is only about fifty miles. 

But there were no railroads at that time ; and 



THE Sl'OKY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 23 

Franklin was nearly three da)S trucloring alon^ 
lonely way^on-traeks, in the midst of a pouring 
rain. 

At Burlincrton he was lucky enough to be 
taken on board a small boat that was going down 
the river. 

Hurlington is only twenty miles above Phila- 
delphia. But the boat moved very slowly, and 
as there was no wind, the men took turns at row- 
ing. 

Night came on, and they were afraid that they 
might pass by Philadelphia in the darkness. So 
they landed, and camped on shore till morning. 

Early the next day they reached Philadelphia, 
and Benjamin Franklin stepped on shore at the 
foot of Market street, where the Camden ferry- 
boats now land. 

No one who saw him could have guessed that 
he would one day be the greatest man in the city. 

He was a sorry-looking fellow. 

He was dressed in his working clothes, and 
w^as very dirty from being so long on the road 
and in the little boat. 



24 '^HE STORY OF BEA'JAM/X FRAXk'LlK 



His pockets were stuffed out with shirts and 
stockings, and all the money that he had was not 
more than a dollar. 

He was hungry and tired. He had not a sin- 
gle friend. He did not know of anyplace where 
he could look for lodging. 

It was Sunday morning. 

He went a little way up the street, and looked 
around him. 

A boy was coming down, carrying a basket of 
bread. 

'* My young friend," said Franklin, " where did 
you get that bread ? " 

" At the baker's," said the boy. 

'' And where is the baker's ?" 

The boy showed him the little baker shop just 
around the corner. 

Young Franklin was so hungry that he could 
hardlv wait. He hurried into the shop and asked 
for three-penny worth of bread. 

The baker gave him three great, puffy rolls. 

Franklin had not expected to get so much, but 
he took the rolls and walked out. 



THE STORY OT BEXJAMLV TKAXKLIN. 25 



His pockets were already full, and so, while he 
ate one roll, he held the others under his arms. 

As he went up Market street, eating his roll, a 
\ ounof criri stood in a doorwav laui^hino^ at him. 
He was, indeed, a very funny-looking fellow. 

The girl's name was Deborah Read. A few 
years after that, she became the wife of Benjamin 
Franklin 

Hungry as he was, Franklin found that he 
could eat but one of the rolls, and so he gave the 
other two to a poor woman who had come down 
the river in the same boat with him. 

As he was strolling along the street he came 
to a Quaker meetings-house. 

The door was open, and many people w^ere sit- 
ting quietly inside. The seats looked inviting, 
and so Franklin walked in and sat down. 

The day was warm ; the people in the house 
were very still ; Franklin was tired. In a few 
minutes he was sound asleep 

And so it was in a Quaker meetincr-house that 
Benjamin Franklin found the first shelter and 
rest in Philadelphia. 



26 THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANK LiN. 



Later in the da}', as Franklin was strolling 
toward the river, he met a youno- man whose 
honest face was very pleasmg" to him. 

" My friend," he said, '' can you tell me of any 
house where thev Iodide stranj^^ers ?" 

" Yes," said the youn^;' man, " there is a house 
on this very street ; but it is not a place I can 
recommend. If thee will come with me I will 
show thee a better one." 

Franklin walked with him to a house on Water 
street, and there he found lodging for the night. 

And so ended his first day in Philadelphia. 



VIII. — Governor William Keith. 

Franklin soon obtained work in a prmting 
house owned by a man named Keimer. 

He found a boarding place in the house of Mr. 
Read, the father of the girl who had laughed at 
him with his three rolls. 

He was only seventeen years old, and he soon 
became acquainted with several young people in 
tlie town who loved books. 



THE STORY Of BEXJAMIN TK AX A' LTV. 2 J 

In a little while he bei^an to lay up money, 
and he tried to forget his old home in Boston as 
much as he could. 

One day a letter came to Philadelphia for Ben- 
jamin Franklin. 

It was from Captain Robert Holmes, a brother- 
indaw of Franklin's. 

Captain Holmes w^as the master of a trading" 
sloop that sailed between Boston and Delaware 
Bay. While he was loading his vessel at New- 
castle, forty miles below Philadelphia, he had 
happened to hear about the young man Franklin 
who had lately come from Boston. 

He sat down at once and wrote a letter to the 
young man. He told him how his parents and 
friends were grieving for him in Boston. He 
begged him to go back home, and said that ev- 
erything would be made right if he would do so. 
When Franklin read this letter he felt very 
sad to think of the pain and distress which he 
had caused. 

But he did not want to return to Boston. He 
felt that he had been badiv treated bv his brother, 



8 THE STOKY OF BENJAMIN EKAXKUN. 



and. therefore, that he was not the only one to 
be blamed. He believed that he could do much 
better in Philadelphia than anywhere else. 

So he sat down and wrote an answer to Cap- 
tain Holmes. He wrote it with great care, and 
sent it off to Newcastle by the first boat that was 
going that way. 

Now it so happened that Sir William Keith, 
the governor of the province, was at Newcastle 
at that very time. He was with Captain Holmes 
when the letter came to hand. 

When Captain Holmes had read the letter he 
was so pleased with it that he showed it to the 
(Tovernor. 

Governor Keith read it and was surprised when 
he learned that its writer was a lad only seven- 
teen vears old. 

" He is a young man of great promise," he 
said ; '' and he must be encouraged. The print- 
ers in Philadelphia know nothing about their 
business. If young Franklin will stay there and 
set up a press, I will do a great deal for him." 

One day not long after that, when Franklin 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 29 

was at work in Keimer's printing-office, the gov- 
ernor came to see him. FrankHn was very much 
surprised. 

The governor offered to set him up in a busi- 
ness of his own. He promised that he should 
have all the public printing in the province. 

'' But you will have to go to England to buy 
your types and whatever else you may need." 

Franklin agreed to do this. But he must first 
return to Boston and get his father's consent and 
assistance. 

The governor gave him a letter to carry to his 
father. In a few weeks he was on his way home. 
You may believe that Benjamin's father and 
mother were glad to see him. He had been gone 
seven months, and in all that time they had not 
heard a word from him. 

His brothers and sisters were glad to see 
him, too — all but the printer, James, who treated 
him very unkindly. 

His father read the governor's letter, and then 
shook his head. 

" What kind of a man is this Governor Keith ? " 



O THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



he asked. *' He must have but httle judgment 
to think of setthicr up a mere boy in business of 
this kind." 

After that he wrote a letter of thanks to the 
o-overnor. He said that he was ofi'ateful for the 
kindness he had shown to his son, and for his 
offer to help him. Hut he thought that Benjamin 
was still too ^'ouncy to be trusted with so o-reat a 
business, and therefore he would not consent to 
his undertaking it. As for helping him, that he 
could not do ; for he had but little more money 
than was needed to carry on his own affairs. 



IX. — The Return to Philadelphia. 

Benjamin Franklin felt much disappointed 
when his father refused to help send him to Eng- 
land. But he was not discouraged. 

In a few weeks he was ready to return to Phil- 
adelphia. This time he did not have to run 
away from home. 

His father blessed him, and his mother gave 
him many small ({ifts as tokens of her love. 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 3 I 

" Be diligent," said his father, "attend well to 
your business, and save your money carefully, 
and, perhaps, by the time you are twenty-one 
years old, you will be able to set up for yourself 
without the governor's help." 

All the family, except James the printer, bade 
him a kind good-bye, as he went on board the 
little ship that was to take him as far as New 
York. 

There was another surprise for him when he 
reached New York. 

The governor of New York had heard that 
there was a voun^r man from Boston on board 
the ship, and that he had a great many books. 

There were no large libraries in New York at 
that time. There were no bookstores, and but 
few people who cared for books. 

So the governor sent for Franklin to come and 
see him. He showed him his own library, and 
they had a long talk about books and authors. 

This was the second governor that had taken 
notice of Benjamin. For a poor boy, like him, 
it was a great honor, and very pleasing. 



o 



'> 



7 HE syOKY OF BEXJAMIiV FRANKLIN. 



When he arrixed in Philadelphia he gave to 
Governor Keith the letter which his father had 
written. 

The governor was not very well pleased. He 
said : 

'' Your father is too careful. There is a great 
difference in persons. Voung men can some- 
times be trusted with oreat undertakino-s as 
well as if they were older." 

lie then said that he \\ ould set Franklin up in 
business without his father's help. 

•* Give me a list of everything needed in a first- 
class printing-office. I will see that you are prop- 
erly fitted out." 

Franklin was delighted. lie thought that 
Governor Keith was one of the l)est men in the 
world. 

In a few days he laid before the governor a 
list of the things needed in a little printing-office. 

The cost of the outfit would be about five hun- 
dred dollars. 

llie governor was pleased with the list. "Fhere 
were no type-foundries in America at that time. 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 33 

There was no place where printing-presses were 
made. Everything had to be bought in Eng- 
land. 

The governor said, *' Don't you think it would 
be better if vou could oro to Eno^land and choose 
the types for yourself, and see that everything 
is just as \'Ou would like to have it ? " 

*' Yes, sir," said Franklin, " 1 think that would 
be a Qfreat advantao^e." 

''Well, then." said the governor, "get yourself 
ready to go on the next regular ship to London. 
It shall be at my expense. '^ 

At that time there was only one ship that 
made regular trips from Philadelphia to Eng- 
land, and it sailed but once each year. 

The name of this ship was the Aunts. It 
would not be ready to sail again for several 
months. 

And so young Franklin, while he was getting 
ready for the voyage, kept on working in Mr. 
Keimer's little printing-office. 

He laid up money enough to pay for his pas- 
sage. He did not want to be dependent upon 



•> • 7'//£ Sl^OKY OF BEXTAMIN FRANKLIN. 

Governor Keith for everything- ; and it was well 
that he did not. 



X. — The First \"isrr to England. 

At last the Anuis was ready to sail. 

Governor Keith had promised to give to young- 
Franklin letters of introduction to some of his 
friends in Eno;land. 

He had also promised to give him money to 
buy his presses and type. 

But when Franklin called at the governor's 
house to bid him good-bye, and to get the letters, 
the grovernor was too busv to see him. He said 
that he would send the letters and the money to 
him on shipboard. 

The ship sailed. 

13ut no letters, nor any word from Governor 
Keith, had been sent to Franklin. 

WHien he at last arrived in London he found 
himself without money and without friends. 

Governor Keith had o^iven him nothinir but 
promises. He would never give him anything 



THE STORY OF BENJAAUN FRANK LEW 35 

more. He was a man whose word was not to be 
depended upon. 

Franklin was then just eighteen years old. 
He must now depend wholly upon himself. He 
must make his own way in the world, without 
aid from anyone. 

He went out at once to look for work. He 
found employment in a printing--office, and there 
he stayed for nearly a year. 

Franklin made many acquaintances wath liter- 
ary people while he was in London. 

He proved himself to be a young man of tal- 
ent and ingenuity. He was never idle. 

His companions in the printing-office were 
beer-drinkers and sots. He often told them how 
foolish they were to spend their money and ruin 
themselves for drink. 

He drank nothing but water. He was strong 
and active, He could carry more, and do more 
work, than anv of them. 

He persuaded many of them to leave off drink- 
ing, and to lead better lives. 

Franklin was also a fine swimmer. There was 



6 THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



no one in London who could sw im as well, lie 
wrote two essays on swimming, and made some 
plans for opening a swimming school. 

When he had been in London about a year, he 
met a Mr. Denham, a merchant of [Philadelphia, 
and a strong friendship sprang up between 
them. 

Mr. Denham at last persuaded Franklin to re- 
turn to Philadelphia, and be a clerk in his dry- 
goods store. 

And so, on the 23rd of the next July, he set 
sail for home. The ship was nearly three months 
in making the voyage, and it w as not until Octo- 
ber that he again set foot in Philadelphia. 



XL — A Leading Man in Philadelphia. 

When Franklin w^as twenty-four years old he 
was married to Miss Deborah Read, the young 
lady who had laughed at him when he was walk- 
ing the street w^th his three rolls. 

They lived together very happily for a great 
many years. 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



Some time before this marriage, Franklin's 
friend and employer, Mr. Denham, had died. 

The dry-goods store, of which he was the 
owner, had been sold, and Franklin's occupation 
as a salesman, or clerk, was orone. But the vouno- 
man had shown himself to be a person of great 
industry and ability. He had the confidence of 
everybody that knew him. 

A friend of his, who had money, offered to 
take him as a partner in the newspaper business. 
And so he again became a printer, and the editor 
of a paper called the Pcimsylvania Gazette. 

It was not long until Franklin was recognized 
as one of the leading men in Philadelphia. His 
name was known, not only in Pennsylvania, but 
in all the colonies. 

He was all the time thinking of plans for mak- 
ing the people about him wiser and better and 
happier. 

He established a subscription and circulating 
library, the first in America. This library w^as 
the beginning of the present Philadelphia Public 
Library. 



o 



8 y'//£ STORY OF BEXJAMlN FRANK UN 



He wrote papers on education. He founded 
the University of Pennsylvania. He organized 
the American Philosophical Society. 

He established the first fire compan\' in Phila- 
delphia, which was also the first in America. 

He invented a copper-plate press, and printed 
the first paper money of New Jersey. 

He also invented the iron fireplace, which is 
called the Franklin stove, and is still used where 
wood is plentiful and cheap. 

After an absence of ten years, he paid a visit 
to his old home in Boston. Everybody was glad 
to see him now, — even his brother James, the 
printer. 

When he returned to Philadelphia, he was 
elected clerk of the colonial assembly. 

Not long after that, he was chosen to be post- 
master of the city. But his duties in this capac- 
ity did not require very much labor in those 
times. 

He did not handle as much mail in a whole 
year as passes now through the Philadelphia 
post-office in a single hour. 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



40 THE STORY OF BENJAMT\' FRANKLIN. 



XII. -Franklin's Rilks of Life. 

Here are some of the rules of life which 
FrankUn made for himself when he was a very 
young- man : 

1. To live very frugally till he had paid all 
that he owed. 

2. To speak the truth at all times ; to be sin- 
cere in word and action. 

3. To apply himself earnestly to whatever 
business he took in hand ; and to shun all fooHsh 
projects for becoming suddenly rich. " For in- 
dustry and patience," he said, "are the surest 
means of plenty." ■ 

4. To speak ill of no man whatever, not even 
in a matter of truth ; but to speak all the good 
he knew of everybody. 

When he was twenty-six years old, he pub- 
lished the first number of an almanac called Poor 
Richard' s Almanac. 

This almanac was full of wise and witty say- 
ings, and everybody soon began to talk about it. 

Every year, for twenty-five years, a new num- 



THE STORY OF BENJAMhV FRANKLIN. 4 1 



ber of Poor RicJiard^ s Ahiianac was printed. It 
was sold in all parts of the country. People 
who had no other books would buy and read 
I^oor RicJiard' s Almanac. The library of many a 
farmer consisted of only the family Bible with 
one or more numbers of this famous almanac. 
Here are a few of Poor Richard's saying's : 
*' A word to the wise is enoucrh." 
''God helps them that help themselves." 
'' Early to bed and early to rise, 

Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." 
" There are no gains without pains." 
" Plow deep while sluggards sleep, 

.\nd you shall have corn to sell and to keep." 
"One to-day is worth two to-morrows." 
'' Little strokes fell great oaks." 
"Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee." 
"The sleeping fox catches no poultry." 
" Dili(Tence is the mother of grood luck." 
''Constant dropping wears away stones." 
" A small leak will sink a great ship." 
"Who dainties love shall beggars prove." 
" Creditors have better memories than debtors." 



42 THE S7VRY OP BENjAAim PRANKlJX. 



'* Many a little makes a mickle." 

" Fools make feasts and wise men eat them." 

'' Many have been ruined by buying good 
pennyworths." 

'' Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt." 

''For age and want save while you may ; 
No morning sun lasts the whole day." 

It is pleasant to know that Franklin observed 
the rules of life which he made. And his wife, 
Deborah, was as busy and as frugal as himself. 

They kept no idle servants. Their furniture 
was of the cheapest sort. Their food was plain 
and simple. 

Franklin's breakfast, for many years, was only 
bread and milk ; and he ate it out of a two- 
penny earthen bowl with a pewter spoon. 

But at last, when he was called one morning to 
breakfast, he found his milk in a china bowl ; and 
by the side of the bowl there was a silver spoon. 

His wife had bouorht them for him as a sur- 
prise. She said that she thought her husband 
deserved a silver spoon and china bowl as well 
as any of his neighbors. 



The story of benjamin franklin. 4^ 



Xlll. — F'rankijn's Services 10 the Colonies. 

And so, as you have seen, Benjamin Franklin 
became in time one of the foremost men in our 
country. 

In 1753, when he was forty-five years old, he 
was made deputy postmaster - general for 
America. 

He was to have a salary of about $3,000 a 
year, and was to pay his own assistants. 

People were astonished when he proposed to 
have the mail carried regularly once every week 
between New York and Boston. 

Letters starting from Philadelphia on Monday 
morning would reach Boston the next Saturday 
night. This was thought to be a wonderful 
and almost impossible feat. But nowadays, 
letters leaving Philadelphia at midnight are 
read at the breakfast table in Boston the next 
morning. 

At that time there were not seventy post-offices 
in the whole country. There are now more than 
seventy thousand. 



44 THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



Benjamin Frankhn held the office of deputy 
postmaster-treneral for the American colonies for 
twenty-one }'ears. 

In 1754 there was a meeting of the leading 
men of all the colonies at Albany. There were 
fears of a war with the French and Indians of 
Canada, and the colonies had sent these men to 
plan some means of defence. 

Benjamin Franklin was one of the men from 
Pennsylvania at this meeting. 

tie presented a plan for the union of the col- 
onies, and it was adopted. But our English 
rulers said it was too democratic, and refused to 
let it go into operation. 

This scheme of Franklin's set the people of the 
colonies to thinking. Why should the colonies 
not unite? Why should they not help one an- 
other, and thus form one great country ? 

And so, we may truthfully say that it was 
Benjamin Franklin who first put into men's 
minds the idea of the great Union which we now 
call the United States of America. 

The people of the colonies were not happy 



THE STORY OF BENJAMJX FRANKLIiX. 45 

under the rule of the Enghsh. One by one, laws 
were made which they looked upon as oppressive 
and burdensome. These laws were not intended 
to benefit the .Vmerican people, but were de- 
signed to enrich the merchants and politicians of 
England. 

In 1757 the people of Pennsylvania, Massachu- 
setts, Maryland, and Georgia, decided to send 
some one to England to petition against these 
oppressions. 

In all the colonies there was no man better 
fitted for this business than Benjamin Franklin. 
And so he was the man sent. 

The fame of the great American had gone be- 
fore him. Everybody seemed anxious to do him 
honor. 

He met many of the leading men of the day, 
and he at last succeeded in gaining the object of 
his mission. 

But such business moved slowly in those times. 
Five years passed before he was ready to return 
to America. 

I^e reached Philadelphia in November, 1762, 



46 THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

and the colonial assembly of Pennsylvania 
thanked him publicly for his great services. 

Hut new troubles soon came up between the 
colonies and the oovernment in England. Other 
laws were passed, more oppressive than before. 

It was proposed to tax the colonies, and to 
force the colonists to buy stamped paper. This 
last act was called the Stamp Tax, and the Amer- 
ican people opposed it with all their might. 

Scarcely had Franklin been at home two years 
when he was again sent to England to plead the 
cause of his countrymen. 

This time he remained abroad for more than 
ten years ; but he was not so successful as before. 

In 1774 he appeared before the King's council 
to present a petition from the people of Massa- 
chusetts. 

He was now a venerable man nearly seventy 
years of age. He was the most famous man of 
America. 

His petition was rejected. He himself was 
shamefully insulted and abused by one of the 
members of the council. The next dav he was 



i 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 47 

dismissed from the office of deputy postmaster- 
general of America. 

In May, 1775, he was again at home in Phila- 
delphia. 

Two weeks before his arrival the battle of Lex- 
ington had been fought, and the war of the Revo- 
lution had been begun. 

Franklin had done all that he could to persuade 
the English king to deal justly with the Amer- 
ican colonies. But the kino^ and his counsellors 
had refused to listen to him. 

During his ten years abroad he had not stayed 
all the time in England. He had traveled in 
many countries of Europe, and had visited Paris 
several times. 

Many changes had taken place while he was 
absent. 

His wife, Mrs. Deborah Franklin, had died. 
Flis parents and fifteen of his brothers and sisters 
had also been laid in the grave. 

The rest of his days were to be spent in the 
service of his country, to which he had already 
given nearly twenty years of his life. 



48 THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



XIV. — Franklin's WondF':rful Kite. 

Benjamin Franklin was not only a printer, 
politician, and statesman, he was the first sci- 
entist of America. In the midst of perplexing^ 
cares it w^as his deliofht to study the laws of na- 
ture and try to understand some of the myster- 
ies of creation. 

In his time no very great discoveries had yet 
been made. The steam engine was unknown. 
The telegraph had not so much as been dreamed 
about. Thousands of comforts which we now 
enjoy through the discoveries of science were 
then unthought of ; or if thought of, they were 
deemed to be impossible. 

Franklin began to make experiments in elec- 
tricity when he was about forty years old. 

He was the first person to discover that light- 
ning is caused by electricity. He had long 
thought that this was true, but he had no means 
of proving it. 

He thought that if he could stand on some high 



THE STORY OF BEXJAMIN FRANKLIN. 49 

tower during- a thunder-storm, he might be able 
to draw some of the electricity from the clouds 
through a pointed iron rod. But there was no 
high tower in Philadelphia. There was not even 
a tall church spire. 

At last he thought of making a kite and send- 
ing it up to the clouds. A paper kite, however, 
would be ruined by the rain and would not fly to 
any great height. 

So instead of paper he used a light silk hand- 
kerchief which he fastened to two slender but 
strong cross pieces. At the top of the kite he 
placed a pointed iron rod. The string was of 
hemp, except a short piece at the lower end, 
w^hich was of silk. At the end of the hemp 
string an iron key was tied. 

'* I think that is a queer kind of kite," said 
Franklin's little boy. " What are you going to 
do with it?" 

*' Wait until the next thunder-storm, and you 
will see," said Franklin. " You may go with me 
and we will send it up to the clouds." 

He told no one else about it, for if the experi- 



50 THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



meat should fail, he did not care to have every- 
body laugh at him. 

At last, one day, a thunder-storm came up, 
and Franklin, with his son, went out into a field to 
fly his kite. There was a steady breeze, and it was 
easy to send the kite far up towards the clouds. 

Then, holding the silken end of the string, 
Franklin stood under a little shed in the field, 
and w^atched to see what would happen. 

The licrhtnino-s flashed, the thunder rolled, but 
there was no sign of electricity in the kite. At 
last, when he was about to give up the experi- 
nient, Franklin saw the loose fibres of his hempen 
string begin to move. 

He put his knuckles close to the key, and 
sparks of fire came flying to his hand. He was 
wild with delight. The sparks of fire were elec- 
tricity ; he had drawm them from the clouds. 

That experiment, if Franklin had only known 
it, was a very dangerous one. It was fortunate for 
him, and for the world, that he suffered no harm. 
More than one person who has since tried to draw 
electricity from the clouds has been killed by the 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIX FRANK LEW 5 I 



lightning- that has flashed down the hempen 
kite strino;-. 

When Frankhn's discovery was made known 
it caused great excitement among the learned 
men of Europe. They could not believe it was 
true until some of them had proved it by similar 
experiments. 

They could hardly believe that a man in the 
far away city of Philadelphia could make a dis- 
covery which they had never thought of as pos- 
sible. Indeed, how could an American do any- 
thing that was worth doing ? 

Franklin soon became famous in foreign coun- 
tries as a philosopher and man of science. The 
universities of Oxford and Edinburofh honored 
him by conferring upon him their highest de- 
grees. He was now Doctor Benjamin Franklin. 
But in America people still thought of him only 
as a man of affairs, as a great printer, and as the 
editor of Poo7^ RicJiard's Ahnanac. 

All this happened before the beginning of his 
career as ambassador from the colonies to the 
king and government of England. 



52 THE STORY OF BEXJAMIX FRAA'KLIX. 



I cannot tell you of all of his discoveries in 
science. lie invented the li<^htning--rod, and, by 
trying many experiments, he learned more about 
electricity than the world had ever known before. 

He made many curious experiments to dis- 
cover the laws of heat, light, and sound. By 
laying strips of colored cloth on snow, he learned 
which colors are the best conductors of heat. 

He invented the harmonica, an ingenious musi- 
cal instrument, in which the sounds were pro- 
duced by musical glasses. 

During his long stay abroad he did not neglect 
his scientific studies. He visited many of the 
greatest scholars of the time, and was every- 
where received with much honor. 

The great .'Scientific societies of Europe, the 
Royal Academies in Paris and in Madrid, had 
already elected him as one of their members. 
The King of France wrote him a letter, thank- 
ing him for his useful discoveries in electricity, 
and for his invention of the lightning-rod. 

All this would have made some men very 
proud. But it was not so with Dr. Franklin. In 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



a letter which he w rote to a friend at the time 
when these honors were beginning to be show- 
ered upon him, he said : 

"The pride of man is very differently gratified; 
and had his Majesty sent me a marshal's staff I 
think I should scarce have been so proud of it as 
I am of your esteem." 

XV. — The Last Years. 

In 1776 delegates from all the colonies met in 
Philadelphia. They formed what is called the 
second Continental Conofress of America. 

It was now more than a year since the war 
had begun, and the colonists had made up their 
minds not to submit to the king of England and 
his council. 

Many of them were strongly in favor of set- 
ting up a new government of their own. 

A committee was appointed to draft a decla- 
ration of independence, and Benjamin Franklin 
was one of that committee. 

On the 4th of July, Congress declared the col- 



54 ^^^^ STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



onies to be free and independent states. Amono- 
the signers of the Declaration of Independence 
was Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. 

Soon after this Dr. Franklin was sent to Paris 
as minister from the United States. Early in the 
following' year, 1777, he induced the king of 
France to acknowledge the independence of this 
country. 

He thus secured aid for the Americans at 
a time when they were in the greatest need 
of it. Had it not been for his services at this 
time, the war of the Revolution might have ended 
very differently, indeed. -* 

It was not until 1785 that he w^as again able to 
return to his home. 

He was then nearly eighty years old. 

He had served his country faithfully for fifty- 
three years. He would have been glad if he 
might retire to private life. 

When he reached Philadelphia he was received 
with joy by thousands of his countrymen. (Gen- 
eral Washinirton was amontr the first to welcome 
him, and to thank him for his g^i'eat services. 



THE STORY OF BEXJAMIN FRAXKLIX. 55 



That same year the grateful people of his state 
elected him President of Pennsylvania. 

Two years afterwards, he wrote : 

'' I am here in my niche \\\ my own house, in the 
bosom of my family, my daughter and grand- 
children all about me, among my old friends, or 
the sons of my friends, who equally respect me. 

'' In short, I enjoy here every opportunity of 
doing good, and everything eise I could wish 
for, except repose ; and that I may soon expect, 
either by the cessation of my office, wh'ch can- 
not last more than three years, or by ceasing to 



ive." 



The next year he was a delegate to the con- 
vention which formed the present Constitution 
of the United States. 

In a letter written to his friend Washington 
not long afterwards, he said : '' For my personal 
ease I should have died two years ago ; but 
though those years have been spent in pain, I 
am glad to have lived them, since I can look upon 
our present situation." 

In April, 1790, he died, and vyas buried by the 



0^- 



THE STORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 



side of his wife, Deborah, in Arch street grave- 
yard in Philadelphia, t^is age was eight} -four 
)ears and three months. 

Many years before his death he had w ritten 
the following epitaph for himself : 



- The Body 
of 
Benjamin Franklin, Printer, 
(Like the cover of an old book, 
Its contents torn out. 
And stripped of its lettering and gilding-,) 
Lies here food for worms. 
Yet the work itself shall not be lost, 
For it will (as he believed) appear once more 
Li a new 
And more beautiful Edition, 
Corrected and Amended 
By 
The Author." 



i 



l'u U ->^ 



^ 



